Citizens, not strangers

A shortcut for the right to citizenship of half a million illegal immigrants who have been living and working in the UK for years: the proposal to grant permanent residence status to those whose visa has expired, but who have lived here for at least four years and had a work permit for two years, was made by Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, leader of five million English Catholics, a year ago. Now the proposal has grown into an important movement, an alliance of churches, associations and local communities that campaigns in public and in parliament for recognition to be given to a minority that is illegal on paper but that is inserted in the social and economic life of the country. “Strangers into Citizens”, as the movement is called, organized a demonstration in Trafalgar Square at the beginning of the month that attracted at least five thousand participants. Trade-unionists, nuns and activists marched through the streets of London with banners and posters asking the government to give to illegal immigrants the dignity that is their due. The coordinator of the “Strangers into Citizens” campaign is Austen Ivereigh, former spokesman of Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor and an expert on European issues. We interviewed him. Do you admit some form of control on the frontiers? “Yes, undoubtedly: it is the State’s right to control the frontiers. We ask only that those who arrived in this country with a tourist visa or as students, and then, once their visa had expired, became inserted in the life of the country, paying their taxes, working hard and sending their children to school, should have the chance to emerge from illegality”. The Secretary of State for immigration Liam Byrne has criticised your campaign by saying that to regularize illegal immigration would send out the wrong signal, and imply that the frontiers of the UK are also open to those enter illegally. We need to prevent, said Byrne, the UK attracting new illegal immigrants. What do you think? “Regularizing clandestine immigration does not mean promoting it, because emigrants do not leave their country in the search of citizenship but to escape poverty or persecution and arrive here at no matter what cost, without bothering too much about the type of frontier control that exists. Giving them the right to remain means reinforcing the laws on the frontiers that already exist”. Why have you chosen this particular model of regularization, at least four years residence in the UK and then a work permit for two years, without access to state benefits, at the end which, if the immigrant responds to certain criteria, such as good knowledge of English, no criminal record, and suitable references from employers, he should obtain residence in the country? “We studied various models of regularization in Europe and in the USA and decided that this formula, whereby it is the employer who underwrites the immigrant, was the most suitable for the UK”. Do you think this campaign will have any success? “In private the secretaries of state for immigration show themselves far more amenable than they do in public and have admitted, in the talks we have had, that they are in favour of our proposal. Sixty MPs will propose a motion to Parliament in the days ahead that is aimed at introducing our model of regularization. Two thirds of British citizens are in favour of the proposition that those who live permanently here and pay tax should obtain citizenship, but there exists a quarter of citizens, some 20%, who are strongly opposed to the notion that illegal immigrants should be regularized. They are in the main representatives of the working class with low education, but the government is concerned that this minority, if it feels itself ignored, could transfer its vote to the anti-immigration British National Party, the fascist party. As a rule those who are educated and belong to the better-off classes are in favour of regularizing immigrants because they know they contribute to the prosperity of the country”. What do you think of the government’s recent decision to toughen up controls on employers, who are liable to stiff fines if they fail to apply the controls prescribed by the law on their workforce and even risk imprisonment if they employ clandestine immigrants? “I think we need to distinguish between employers who exploit immigrants knowing what they are doing and those who employ persons who have a false passport without realizing it. I also think it would be a good thing if the government were to concentrate its controls on employers who are conscious of what they are doing”. Why has the Church decided to get involved in this campaign that is political in nature? “Because the social doctrine of the Church asks that illegal workers be treated with respect and humanity”.